6 Ingenious Kitchen Hacks To Save You Time
January 11, 2017

“Just add water” had a good long run when it comes to quick dinner prep. Continue reading to discover six time-saving kitchen hacks every home cook should have up their sleeve…

1. Stock up on extra sharp knives

If there’s one thing that’ll put a damper on your dinner prep, it’s dull knives. And no – this doesn’t mean you have to schlep all the way to the store to stock up on shiny and sharp new ones every few months. Instead, treat your blades with the respect they deserve. C’mon people — these tools do all the slicing, dicing, and chopping. Without them, we’d be lost. And hungry.

So do not, we repeat, do NOT let your blades dry on the dish rack, toss around in the dishwasher, or chill out in the kitchen sink. These are big no no’s. Also, only use knives with wood or plastic cutting boards, not your granite countertop.

2. Cook with nonstick pans

Avoid any and all sticky situations with the help of one revolutionary kitchen tool: nonstick pans. They require far less oil, are practically no-brainers to clean, and allow for an equal distribution of heat. But whatever you do, don’t use with sharp objects (think knives and metal spatulas) or you risk damaging the coating. Instead, stick with wooden spoons.

3. Bust out the mandoline

Unevenly sliced veggies mean some cook faster than others which means you’ll be left with half that are ever-so-slightly charred and half that are ever-so-slightly underdone. But who actually has the time to cut that zucchini into even rounds? Not us.

With the help of a mandoline, you can thinly and quickly slice onions, apples, cucumbers, carrots, and more. Just be sure to look for one with a hand guard that holds food in place while protecting your fingers — that blade is sharp.

4. Take advantage of garbage bowls

Can you live without ’em? Sure. Do you want to? Absolutely not. Keep a garbage bowl (or, better yet, the meal kit boxes!) close by to collect peels, trimmings, stems, and other scraps as you go.

BONUS: You’ll be rewarded later with an easy-peasy cleanup.

5. Invest in kitchen shears

We love you, knives, but sometimes scissors are the way to go. Or should we say shears.

6. Use a garlic press

You know those tools that seem cool in theory but then prove totally unnecessary in reality? This is NOT one of those. Once you realize how easy it is to crush those cloves through a grid of small holes, the garlic press will become your cooking bff with nightmares of pungent, garlic-scented fingers long gone.

For more speedy inspiration, feast your eyes on seven of our quickest recipes — we initially rounded ’em up to celebrate the longest day of the year back in June. But let’s be honest, they’re welcome in our kitchen any day.

I absolutely love Hello Fresh…I tell all my family and friends about it. I live alone and buy the meals for two, three days a week. This makes 6 meals total for me. Great economical way to eat fresh and healthy even for just one person. Thank you for allowing me to send free boxes to my family and friends. I hope they enjoy it as much as I have and will for a long time to come.

Another hack I have is peel, cut, chop and prep everything possible for my 3 boxes when I receive them (with the mandoline doesn’t take much time) put them either in the little bag they came in, plastic bags or small plastic bowls and put them back in their box. Then when I get home from work, dinner is done in a heartbeat as much of the work is already done.

Welcome to the HelloFresh family, Kimiko – we can’t wait for you to get cooking with us!! It’s going to be SO much fun. The blog is the go-to destination for more amazing recipes, kitchen tips and tricks, and a behind the scenes look at our suppliers to see how the farm fresh ingredients make it into your HelloFresh box – so check back frequently for more 🙂

Your site is not so great. I am searching for the turmeric pancakes recipe & get directed to an irrelevant part of the blog. Things are slow. Clicking on a meal picture & green title, which I expect to take me to the recipe, just goes to a wp picture alone. Things are just hard to negotiate at best, wrong at worst. I haven’t received my first box yet, but here’s hoping your quality control on ingredients & delivery is better than for IT!

Hi Margaret – so sorry about that! We really appreciate your feedback and will definitely pass this along to our tech team to make things better. Do you mind letting us know what browser and device you’re viewing the blog on?

Hello Fresh provides the best service, quality, and taste in food since sliced bread! Not to mention, it saves us providers time and energy we would be spending on problem solving the weeks meals in the kitchen, allowing that much more time with our loved ones. Novel idea that keeps on giving. What a blessing! Thanks Hello Fresh! We are new and just finished our first weeks meals….and are committing for life! Totally worth it in every way!